Horizon
Beta'ed and/or revised by;
Slider214
Heather Shadelight
Contradicting-Whispers
My most heartfelt thanks.
— O —
2009 October 31st, Sunday. Boston, Sarah's House, night.
The sound of a random movie played in the background, more for white noise value than any kind of possible entertainment it could have offered with the pair being currently curled up on the couch, an empty box of pizza resting on the table in front of them.
Taylor took a moment to study Sarah's features in the dim light provided by the TV, the middling rays of the day outside already having given way to midnight black quite some time ago. She looked peaceful after her momentary bout of crying, her eyes still slightly puffy and her eyelids halfway dropped.
Taylor frowned, lost in thought. She could extrapolate what had left her friend a crying mess – in fact, she already had, or so she thought – and the tentative theories weren't compelling at all. She knew it had something to do with Rex due to a whisper between sobs she wasn't entirely sure she had been meant to hear, but hear it she did. The slight mark on some of the furniture and the halfway empty trophy stand painted one of two pictures.
Sarah's brother had fled his home, an understandable action given what little she knew of Sarah's home life, or… Rex had died, somehow. Maybe a cape fight, maybe an accident, maybe something else entirely, she just didn't have enough information and she wasn't about to start a hunt for more.
Taylor couldn't bring herself to shove away the tiny part of her that hated Rex for leaving her friend alone, no matter his reasons.
Taylor's right hand found itself draped across Sarah's shoulders and tugged her slightly in Taylor's direction, Sarah complied and curled up further beneath the blanket they shared at the moment. She couldn't help the blush that spread across her cheeks, but it still didn't wipe away her frown.
Sarah's approach to physical affection was… strange, to say the least. Taylor was trying the same thing Emma had done with her at the start, when Mom had died, and she offered all the physical comfort that she could before they drifted apart – besides, she would be lying to herself if she said that being able to touch another human being in a positive way wasn't nice. Putting all of that aside, Sarah didn't start the contact, ever. She just kind of… hovered around it, skittish, and seemingly wanting to initiate a touch here or there but always pulling back at the last second.
The curious thing was that if she initiated the contact, Sarah didn't have the slightest issue reciprocating – and did so to a great extent, even, evidence being the half-asleep blonde ball at her side. It was almost as if she was… afraid? No, that couldn't be it. Afraid of what?
Then…?
Not knowing was driving her slightly insane, but she held on and endured it. Her friend didn't deserve having Taylor prying into her private life, and she absolutely did not want to push her away over something silly like curiosity or stupid questions that she could have just kept to herself.
She wasn't proud to admit that she still was terrified of losing her one and only remaining friend, and if it meant not sticking her nose where it didn't belong, she could live with that. Even if it was clear that Sarah was not okay, she just… wouldn't, couldn't lose her, the thought alone was too painful.
The isolation at the start of the school year was still too raw at the edges of her mind, jagged and sharp. She absolutely did not want to taste that kind of despair once again. It had been almost as bad as the first month after mom died, where it looked like the car crash had taken Da- Danny, too – back then he had been – still is, something whispered – barely anything more than a puppet with frayed strings dancing to the tune of a broken record.
Sarah mumbled something, and Taylor stopped playing in circles with her own thoughts, the abrupt change of thought process making everything a bit disorienting and thus missing Sarah's words the first time. "Come again?"
Sarah sighed, her voice soft. "Did you warn your father that you'll be staying?"
Taylor diverted all the effort she could spare to not snort; in laughter, derision, or plain bitterness, she herself didn't know. She failed. "I doubt he can see three steps in front of him right…" she looked at the nearby windows, the night greeting her, "about now. I left a note, but…" she didn't shrug because she didn't want to disturb the blonde, but it was a near thing.
Sarah curled further around her, and Taylor strengthened the hug. "M'sorry…"
A bit of a squeeze and some seconds later to gather her thoughts, she answered. "It's not your fault. Da nny, isn't, he isn't who he was. I honestly…" Taylor bit her lip, then shook her head. "Nevermind. Don't worry about him."
The minutes passed in silence, the pair looking-and-not at the TV playing whatever in front of them, their senses more tuned to each other than pointed at the world around them, thanks to that Taylor captured the barely whispered word that came out of Sarah's mouth.
"Can…" she fell silent, and Taylor felt her fidgeting. She looked at her face, and it was almost akin to seeing a war, two conflicting sides fighting for dominance. Conflict that stopped abruptly when Taylor spoke three innocent words.
"...We sleep again?" She finished for her, and Sarah nodded minutely after a lengthy pause. Taylor felt her stomach do weird, tingly things, but she pushed on, nodding. "Of course''.
After turning off the TV and freshening up they ended in the same position they had started the afternoon with, with Sarah still needing to be careful around Taylor's torso, but still as close as they could.
It was the best sleep either of them had had in years, barring their nap beforehand.
— X —
2009 November 1st, Sunday. Boston, Sarah's House, morning.
"Sarah no-"
"Sarah yes. You need a phone, I have a second one I don't use. You need something that has connectivity so we can talk whenever, I have a second line that I don't use. You live in a hellhole plagued by living multi-ton blenderwolfs and human-trafficking rage dragons, you're not getting out of this house without a way for you to call for help. I refuse."
Sarah very much wanted to stamp her foot on the floor. It would be childish, yes, but satisfying and a good, nonverbal ' and that's that.' she could use it to get her point across.
Taylor sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, moments later adjusting her glasses and caving in with a look that Sarah almost fooled herself into thinking was fond exasperation. "Alright, okay, okay, no need to go all Lung on me, jeez…"
Sarah's lips twitched upwards, but she refused to be seen as anything else than unyielding. Taylor took another look at her extended hand and took the phone she was offering, a black little thing that had barely seen any use since leaving the box. It still had her other SIM card inside and a complete charge after leaving it plugged for a bit while they showered – having three two extra bathrooms and one per room was quite the boon.
"So, what do we do today?" Sarah asked Taylor over a mug of coffee while her friend prefered a bowl of cereal. Taylor had reused her hoodie and jeans look from yesterday, changing only the essentials. Sarah personally thought that someone so cuddly shouldn't hide away so much of herself, but she shoved aside the thought, then quashed the one that whispered in her ear that that way Sarah couldn't have Taylor all for herself.
"'Dunno. I've barely read anything about Boston anyway, I was expecting you to be my guide if I'm being honest." Sarah narrowed her eyes at her, and Taylor smiled, moments later showing Sarah her tongue in faux mockery. She wanted to reach out and-
"Yeah? Well, I'm not a glorified interactive map, thank you very much. You can use your brand new phone for that. If you want my services you will have to offer up an appropriate tribute." Sarah sniffed haughtily in her direction, hiding her twitching lips with the rim of her mug.
Taylor couldn't do the same thing with the bowl, so she didn't hide her smile. "And what would entail an appropriate payment, your smugness?"
Sarah couldn't hold it anymore. She burst in giggles followed shortly by Taylor. Minutes after they were gasping, trying to recover from their bout of laughter with cheeks red and smiles firmly in place.
They spent the day near Accord's or the PRT's territory, more window shopping and looking for places to eat than doing anything in specific. One of their stops was the famous Boston library, where Sarah had to almost physically pry Taylor away from the building. Taylor had been pouty the rest of the day, and Sarah's warring impulses for and against grabbing her and planting a kiss on those lips had been almost akin to torture.
Taylor and Sarah were, at the moment, waiting at the bus station for Taylor's bus back to the Bay, and Sarah was doing all that she could to not throw herself at her friend and plead at her to simply not go, as stupid and short-sighted as that would be.
Taylor had no support structure here. No roof that could shelter her, no one to take care of her, no comfort to be had now that the winter was rearing its ugly head.
She still wanted her to stay. It was a stupid, selfish desire.
Par for the course in her life.
Sarah fidgeted, uneasy and unsure. She wanted to reach out, but there was always the nagging voice at the back of her head, remarkably similar to Mother's that spoke about what was right and wrong. She wanted to squeeze the life out of her, but she couldn't bring herself to do the first step. She wanted-
Two arms circled her waist and pressed her against Taylor, Sarah's head falling beneath the taller girl's chin. She had a few years on Taylor, but it seemed like her growth had stopped quite some time ago. As her chin came to rest on the crown of Sarah's head, she suddenly couldn't bring herself to be upset about her lack of growth.
A moment of hesitation quickly discarded caused Sarah to snuggle deeper into Taylor's embrace, the smell of fresh apples reaching her nose and helping her calm down. Some past version of Sarah would probably be appalled at how hard and how fast a twinge of affection for a friend that was too close and too far away at the same time had turned into a massive crush. For a moment, she was glad that Taylor had been too touch-starved to notice how Sarah's behavior wasn't, precisely, the norm.
Then the guilt of that thought threatened to rip her heart out, and it was all she could do to stifle a small, strangled gasp.
She failed.
"Hey," Taylor murmured against her hair. "We'll, uhm…" she seemed uncomfortable by her body language alone. Sarah couldn't bring herself to look at Taylor. Not right now. "If, if you want to we'll keep seeing each other, yeah? I don't know how much money I can scoop out of Da- Danny, before he notices, but…"
Sarah let out a wet chuckle, the feeling inside her chest mingling with self hatred in a caustic, tar-like mixture that very well could have poisoned the entire Nile river in a biblical tale.
Once again, thinking only about herself and only herself, and poor Taylor worrying over paying mere bus tickets that barely – if she was being modest – made a dent in her savings.
She shook her head. "Don't, don't worry about that. Don't worry about the tickets, or money, or, or anything else." She held on tighter in an almost crushing hug when she saw the bus in the distance. "Just, come to see me when you can? Please?"
Taylor hummed against her scalp, a pleasurable tingle that shot down from the top of her head. "We'll talk, and… and if you're sure about the money, I'll come every time your parents aren't home. If, well, if you want to."
"Of course I do, you dork." She let go with extreme reluctance once she saw that the bus had reached them, people already mounting and giving the last goodbyes to relatives and friends.
"We'll talk later, okay?"
It was true. Now they could communicate whenever, wherever, and for any reason at all. Seeing Taylor start walking towards the bus still felt as if someone had scooped something out of her chest. What, she did not know.
Sarah had turned around, not wanting the last memory she would be able to make with her one of Taylor waving at Sarah for the last time in probably weeks when someone slammed into her from behind, making her squawk and lifting her with a pair of arms that she was starting to recognize by feeling alone. "Thank you for everything," whispered Taylor, seconds later leaving her on the ground and running back towards her transport.
Sarah couldn't help but smile, watery as it was.
That would be the first and last time they saw each other before everything went wrong.